Friday, August 30, 2013

The End of Abominable August - Abominus!

What do you get when you combine five Decepticons together who love to destroy and is fairly mindless? Menasor! No, I meant Bruticus! No? Abominus? Yes! Abominus! After a 26 year hunt, I have finally completed this monster. Was he worth the wait? Read on the find out!

Abominus is brute force unleashed. Apparently Abominus is even more mindless than the likes of Bruticus and Menasor, according to his profile. This mindless brute generally fought Computron, his over thinking Autobot counterpart. Well, that was when Abominus was actually used. Let's count the times that he's made an appearance in the fiction:

That's one issue of the Headmasters mini-series. After a bit of a rampage, he gets beaten down by Computron. How'd he fare in the cartoon series?

Well, aside from being awesomely animated in Call of the Primitives, Abominus got humiliated in Grimlock's New Brain and Money is Everything. Abominus finally turned the tables on the brainiac in The Return of Optimus Prime. Abominus was never strictly a Decepticon, A few times he worked for the Quintessons. It was never explained why he did, but he did. So four appearances and Abominus disappeared. He was definitely a victim of product placement. Show the new toy, and then move on to the next new toy. Still, Abominus is a great toy so let's look at that.

I first tried to complete Abominus as a kid when I purchased Cutthroat at K-B Toys in Niagara Falls, NY. At the Children's Palace in Niagara Falls, I acquired Blot and Rippersnapper. Sinnertwin and Hun-Gurrr? I could never find them, that I can remember. I did wind up with an accessory-less Hun-Gurrr two years later, but that was it for the 20-odd years. Sometime last year, I lost Hun-Gurrr. Because. And then Rippersnapper's monster head broke off earlier this year. That proved to be the last straw. Were the gods telling me something? Was I not to ever own this giant? Do I dare defy fate? Yes! With a steel resolve, I set about completing this giant.

I'm a big fan of the classic configurations when it comes the fusilateral quintrocombiners, so that's how my giants are always displayed. Let's get one thing out of the way - Abominus has some skinny thighs. I'm a fan of thicker thighs (ladies..) so this is a little uncomfortable to look at for me. These thighs are about as skinny as Superion's. Still, thanks to Hun-Gurrr's transformation, these sleek, slender legs do have a bit of articulation.

Put one foot in front of the other and soon you'll be walking out the door...

I must admit that from that angle, it looks like Hun-Gurrr is just wearing a pair of stilts, but I love the fact that I can give Abominus a sense of motion while on display.

Hey gurl, lemme holla at ya

Abominus features a bit of bonus articulation in that his head moves. Other than Defensor, I don't think there are any other combiners with this feature. Coupled with the leg articulation, this should give me plenty of options when displaying him.

Thus ends Abominable August. I had a lot of fun scouring for these guys online which turned out to be a great thing as I was able to find the Terrorcons that I was missing for relatively decent prices. I even paid about half for my complete Hun-Gurrr and got the instruction booklet to boot! Unfortunately, while writing some of these entries, I started to run out of steam. The Terrorcons, while great toys, just weren't featured enough in any kind of fiction thanks to the prominence of the 1984 and 1985 cast. Thankfully, writers are starting to focus on other characters, so hopefully they'll gain a little more fame. Still, this proved fun enough to warrant another themed month. Once I work out the details, I'll do another one.

3 comments:

I just read the most recent issue of Monstrosity and it looks like they finally get a little love, albeit it is still short-lived. Abominus was also one of my favorites as a kid, although I had to replace Blot (twice!) due to his robot head breaking off inside Hun-grrr's port. I can't wait until a third party finally does these guys justice, I'll be right up front ready to buy!

I've just been working on finishing this set over the past month. Only need Sinnertwin! I personally love their crazy color schemes, weird alt-modes, and insane bio cards. (Blot is the filthiest of the Transformers, Rippersnapper whips into a rage at all carbon-based organisms, Hun-Grrr can't stop eating, etc.)

Blot, in particular, is my favorite, mainly because of his inscrutable alt mode. What is it? Who knows! But it's weird and purple.